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Creality Ender 3 V2

Hey, this is not my printer! I’m still mainly rocking my Monoprice Maker Select Plus with a number of upgrades over the years. It’s printing well enough, though I tune-up is probably in order one of these days… And yes, my RepRap 6000 is still in progress.

But this Creality Ender 3 V2 is what we’ve got at work now. As we’ve been making more 3D files (and parts) the old Monoprice MP Select Mini was showing its age and… it’s loud. The Ender is much quieter, which is nice.

We’ve already done a few upgrades, including adding OctoPrint and a Pi with a touchscreen, new PEI flexible sheet, and metal pars for the extruder. We had a bunch of issues extruding filament at first but I swapped the nozzle and all was good. It’s only been a few days but so far I’m impressed with quality the way I was when I replaced my 2011 printer with a new one in 2017. I’m still not a huge fan of Bowden extruders, but I can see the appeal and reasons for them.

Oh, I will note that I assembled this using the printed instruction book that came with it, then later realized the included SD card had a video that was ten time better at showing how to assemble it. This isn’t the first time I’ve found printed directions lacking in comparison to video. This doesn’t mean video is always better, it means people are bad at making printed directions.

Oh, I forgot to mention my other other printer. A Creality3D CR-20, which I picked up from MatterHackers at a discount after a giveaway win last year. I gave it to my daughter and her boyfriend to babysit for me until I get room in my shop. Yeah, I expect to have room for it by 2024 or so. Happy Printing!

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Non-Fancy Signs

We’re growing new grass on the side of our house and wanted something to remind our neighbor not to mow it. Typically I would be 100% in favor of someone else mowing our grass, but it needs to grow more before being cut. Dana asked me to make two signs to put in the lawn, so I did.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on it, but I do enjoy making signs so I made them “nice enough” but not too fancy. When I was done Dana saw them and said “Why are they so fancy!?” and I explained that these were not fancy. I did not sand, I did not stain, I did not polyurethane them. Quick and dirty, in my opinion. I just hot glued some wood dowel scraps on the back, though I did sharpen them on the belt sander.

She said she would have just used cardboard and duct tape. I cringe when duct tape is mentioned. This is a gaff tape household, though we do dabble in electrical tape, blue painters tape, Maker Tape™, etc. but NO duct tape.) I told her cardboard would have been destroyed by the rain, and really… these were not fancy signs.

What do you think? Are these scrap wood signs I laser etched and quickly rolled one coat of white ink onto fancy? I didn’t even do any kerning!

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Omni Wheel Robot (LEGO Build)

I’ve always found omni wheel robots fascinating. I even tried to design my own omni wheel (which did not turn out great.) But over at Brown Dog Gadgets I thought we should give it a try and build an Omni Wheel Robot. (And there’s a full guide and code available.)

This is a perfect use of LEGO parts. It is completely possible to fabricate all the parts needed to build this, either using digital fabrication (laser cutter, 3D printer, etc.) or by hand, if you’re the handy kind. But honestly, the LEGO aspect made the build super-simple, and the guide links to all the parts on BrickOwl (which are all pretty cheap.)

The other magic of this build is using 4 servos instead of stepper motors. While you do lose precision, this makes things much less complex and just simplifies everything. We’ve also got an Arduino and a battery pack. That’s it. Yeah, the goal was simplicity.

This is a beginner project in many ways, but it can also serve as a platform for code exploration. We provided the basic code for movement, but there’s room to expand on that, add sensors, etc.

And since it’s LEGO, it is by definition a platform you can build upon and add to. (We’ve even got 3D printed LEGO compatible parts for you.)

Check out the guide to this Omni Wheel Robot if you want to learn more.

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Fast Laser Cut Sign

I got a message from my daughter asking if I could help her make a sign for an event happening later that day. I said yes, and without much time asked he what it needed to say. She texted me the copy, and I cranked out a design very quickly.

I did ask if it was a tabletop sign or a wall hanging sign, and she said tabletop, so that’s what I made. It’s just two simple pieces that slot together. I think this came together in about 30 minutes total. I did a quick sanding and didn’t really have time to stain it, so I just applied some paste wax to it.

And yeah, you can check out BrewCityWraps on Instagram if you are into wire-wrapped jewelry. I heard back from her during the event saying people liked the sign and they had made some sales. Awesome!

The sign can flat pack, and I threw in a few rubber bands to hold the two piece together. Overall I’m pleased with how it turned out in the time given. Sometimes with larger projects you spend so much time planning you never get around to actually making something, so cranking out a quick one is nice.

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Over and Over

I wrote a post on LinkedIn that got some attention, so I wanted to tell the full story behind it. Here’s what I said:

We need a 100 under 100 recognition awards for those people who did awesome things after they were 30, or 40, or 50 or even older. It’s great that young people do things, but plenty of people do good things later in life too.

Like many of the things I say, I was not 100% serious, but Let’s explore the idea a bit more… after some context.

First, a story. Years ago a friend of mine said he was submitting his name to a “40 under 40” thing a local business publication was doing. He explained that a year earlier his business partner applied for it, and was recognized, and felt that he really wanted that too. But why? Well, exposure can lead to business opportunities, maybe an ego boost, or just another thing you can claim as an accomplishment. The reasons are as varied as there are types of people.

Alas, my friend turned 40, did not get recognized, and his hopes were dashed. He still managed to live a full life and run a successful business, so I guess it ended just fine.

Hey, I’ve got one more story. There’s a guy named Doc Searls. He’s on Twitter, and he’s got a web site, and… a blog. I remember something that Doc said, and it took me a while to find it, but I did. It was in a post from Rex Hammock’s blog on July 29. 2006:

“Everything you know me for, I did after the age of 50.”

(Rex notes that Doc may have said or written that in other places, but I found it on Rex’s blog, so I’m giving him credit.)

There are entire organizations and communities and students who only have experiences with me after I was 40 years old, and who I was (and what I knew) after 40 was vastly different than the person I was before I was 40. I don’t mean to make 40 a line in the sand, it could be 30, or 35, or 50, or whatever… I know the whole “40 under 40” thing shouldn’t be taken too seriously, which is why I wanted to skewer it with my post.

So yeah, we could do a 40 over 40, or 100 under 100, or whatever. It doesn’t really matter. What I’ve learned in my age is that there really is no replacement for experience. Living your life provides you an insight into how the world works, and how you work, and you might not even work properly until you’re 40 or 50 or 60. The old idea that we might peak at different times during life. (I’m not even going into the subject of ageism but that’s a whole topic of its own.)

If you look at the image above, it could be taken as 100 over 100 or 100 under 100. It’s all a matter of perspective, right? Right.